Terrain Landscape

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Nathan was easy to work with!  We wanted a water-wise garden that is pleasing to the eye, a variety of shapes and color to keep it interesting.  He delivered his concepts and plans quickly keeping our desires in mind.  We loved that he has so much knowledge about plants, more than that, we loved his enthusiasm about plants.  He measured the entire steep granite surface and came back to us with a detailed plant.   Nathan was here the day everything arrived and placed each plant keeping their growth pattern in mind.  He told us exactly what he would do and what others would be responsible for.  He worked quickly and carefully to finish the job and has been available since the project was completed to answer questions.  We highly recommend Nathan and his referrals.  

It has been our experience that landscapers know a lot about hardscape (bricks, mortar, etc.) but little about plant materials.  We wanted someone who could give us an interesting garden, keeping water use in mind.  Nathan has lots of recommendations for others who could complete the hardscaping portion of the plan and their work was equally as good.  Without a doubt we will trust Nathan and his recommendations on future projects.  

Nathan had great follow-up and listening skills, worked well with everyone, was prompt and consistent and always available to address questions or concerns.  We love our new garden!

Well...we are in the thick of it but so far it is going well! Nathan provided us with two possible plans for our front and back yard. What I truly appreciate about Nathan is that he was very sensitive to our budget and at the same time very good at providing us with his expertise: PLANTS! He listened to what we wanted both in terms of using the space in our backyard and also in terms our our overall aesthetic. He has regularly called and checked in with me about small details, because he knows that small details matter. I feel that I am in very good hands, which matters a lot to me since I am pretty much a neophyte as far as SoCal backyards go. He had contractors come over to bid for the project and he will be ordering the plants, which is lovely since all plants are definately not created equal. I will post more as the project progresses, but I wanted to post now because I am very, very glad that I found Nathan on Angie's List.

Overall it was great!

He did a great job, has a pro website. CAD's, hand drawn pics, hard scape selection and plant selction was all great. Nice guy, look forward to working with him to complete the project when we are ready.

The total project cost us about $12,000, of which Nathan's design work was about $900. The rest was for plants and materials and labor. We feel fortunate to have been a client of Nathan?s in his first year of business here. He?s very knowledgeable and easy to work with. He takes time to be sure he understands what we want, tactfully make suggestions, and value our satisfaction as a primary goal.

We were very fortunate to link with Nathan, who had just moved to the Encinitas area after years as Museum Scientist/Arboretum Manager at the UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley. Our emphasis was the plants ? and Nathan really knows his plants from being curator of the Botanical Garden?s 14 acre collection of California native plants. Nathan first worked with us to turn our vision into drawings, including how things would look in a year. He selected a wide range of plants, with a focus on reduced water requirements while maintaining a tropical feel. Nathan brought contractors to us (we contracted directly with them) with whose work he was familiar and comfortable. These included a excellent general landscaping contractor who did the bulk of the work and did it very well, a concrete stainer who did a good job, plus a tree trimmer who did a very thoughtful pruning of a long neglected olive tree. Nathan understood our vision and went ?out of the box? when needed to achieve this vision. We originally talked to a landscape architect, but his interpretation of our vision and his approach was too conventional for us, as we wanted something special. Nathan was easy going throughout the process, and we had an excellent working relationship. We were particularly impressed that he listened carefully ? both to us, but also to the ideas and observations of the contractors regarding various issues, especially with an eye toward long term operation and maintenance. We highly recommend Nathan Smith for both his design, plant knowledge, and implementation supervision skills.